Benefits Open Enrollment

The University System of Georgia will hold its Open Enrollment (OE) for 2017 benefits beginning Monday, October 31, 2016 – Friday, November 11, 2016. The ADP portal will be open during this time for you to enroll or make changes to your benefits for the 2017 plan year. Review the summary of changes for 2017 here.

Student Researches ‘Lolita’ Culture

Anthropology Undergrad Studies ‘Lolita’ Culture

When Kyla Robinson graduates this spring, there will be one important person missing from the crowd: her father. Four years ago, just months before she was to start her first semester at Georgia State University, Robinson’s father took his own life.

That excitement was soon replaced with grief and fear. Her father had been the only person in her family to attend college, leaving Robinson without a mentor.

“My father attended Purdue University for two semesters, and then unexpectedly dropped out,” she said. “My mother did not go to college. Because of this, I didn’t really know what to expect, or even how to begin preparing.”

Robinson faced her fears by throwing herself into her classes, and found her professors were encouraging.

She decided to test the academic waters in her freshman year by writing a paper on one of her passions: Lolita culture.

“I was originally into Japanese culture, and then I got into Lolita,” said Robinson. “It’s a really interesting subculture.”

The Lolita trend, which began in the 1970s in Japan and was popularized in the 1990s, is a fashion subculture based on the styles of the Victorian era. The trend has spread around the world and has split into four major groups: Sweet, Gothic, Punk and Classic. Despite the implications in its name, the movement is actually a reaction against the sexualization of women. As a budding anthropologist, Robinson found it irresistible, and has been studying it ever since.

“My freshman year, I wrote a paper on high tea, which is a major Lolita event,” said Robinson, “and now I’m doing my thesis on Lolita. I’m covering the fashion, the rituals, the taboos, the deviants … every aspect of what it means to be Lolita.”

“The Georgia State professors have just been amazing,” she said. “The faculty is really encouraging, and there are so many resources on campus. Everyone’s been cheering me on from day one.”

This fall, she’ll be attending the University of Ghent in Belgium, where she’ll be studying Dutch and the Belgian Lolita culture. She’s also planning to study computer programming so she can design new software and research tools for anthropologists in the field.

“My mom’s really proud of me,” said Robinson. “She doesn’t really get what I do. She thinks it doesn’t sound very academic. But she’s happy I’m doing something that’s making me happy.”

And even though he’s not here to say it, Robinson knows her father would be proud, too.

“The last really great conversation we had was about college,” she said. “For anybody who’s on the fence, I would say, ‘Just go.’ You will find a way to afford it. People will cheer you on and give you that support. Just do it.”

This article is part of Generation Georgia State, a series that highlights the academic, personal and career accomplishments of Georgia State students, alumni, faculty and staff who are the first in their families to attend college.